Women in the informal sector schooled on tax matters

A study conducted by the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) on Tax and Gender revealed that although the informal sector largely made up of women traders contributes between 30 and 60 per cent to the total economic activities in most developing countries, there is still more to be done to increase revenue generation from that sector.

The study has also shown that the contribution of the informal sector to domestic revenues mainly through taxes and levies are limited due to several challenges such as limited government and local level administrative capacity, extremely small tax base, financial malfeasance and apathy among sections of the public towards the payment of taxes.

Ms Mary Awelana Addah, Senior Programme and Research Officer of GII, made this known in an interview with the GNA at an economic literacy workshop organised for five district assemblies across the country at Takoradi in the Western Region.

She said the research formed part of the Action for Local Employment, Accountability and Resource Mobilization (LEARN) project, funded by the EU and implemented by GII, Christian Aid and IDEG.

The economic literacy training workshop, she said, was targeting 120 women and youth entrepreneurs in 18 districts across the country to be schooled on tax and development, book keeping, filing of tax returns, SMEs and Tax reliefs among others.

Ms. Addah noted that the research would influence tax policies and practice for greater mobilization of domestic revenues and also encourage tax payers to demand accountability from tax officials.

The training workshop would also bridge the gap between revenue collectors and the tax payers on information as to what the taxes were used for, she said.

Ms Addah added that women at the end would be empowered with the requisite knowledge and information to enable them to effectively contribute to the economic growth of the country.**